New Delhi, Jul 16 (UNI) Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal on Thursday asked Railway federations to come up with unique ideas how Railways revenue can be increased, costs minimised, freight share improved so that the Railways can move further and faster.
Asking Railway federations to come up with unique ideas to enhance Railways revenue, the Minister, who was interacting with the first-ever online Workman Sanghosti, in a unique move, sought crowd sourcing of ideas for boosting profitability and transformational changes from the railway employees, an official release here said.
"The heart of railway employees beats for the organisation. They would be having ideas which can boost the profitability of Railways," the Minister said as he directed the General Managers and Divisional Railway Managers to actively seek these ideas from the employees and transmit the same to the Ministry.
He also asked all to think about the safety and welfare of existing employees. He stressed upon the collective effort required by Railways officers, unions and staff during this phase.
Addressing the Sangosthi, Mr Goyal expressed gratitude for Railway workmen for performing duties relentlessly during the lockdown period.
"From highest to the lowest level, all officers and staff have sincerely performed their duties during the lockdown. Presently, Indian Railways is going through critical time due to the pandemic," he said as he urged the leaders of the federations to ponder how Railways could overcome this crisis that is looming across the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Representatives of Railways Worker's Unions took part in the "Workmen Sangosthi" from across the country. Besides Mr Goyal, Minister of State of Railways Suresh C Angadi, Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav, along with senior officers of Railway Board participated.
Addressing the Sangosthi, Mr Angadi said Indian Railways had never stopped in past 167 years but was stopped due to the pandemic. All Railway employees have worked tirelessly during the pandemic, he said and congratulated the staff of Indian Railways for working as warriors. The Minister expressed that in future also Railway staff would work hard and make Indian Railways as the best Railways in the world.
Earlier, Dr Aanand S Khati, DG/HR, Railway Board informed that Indian Railways has more than 12.18 lakh employees on the rolls, of which 1.21 lakh employees have been recruited recently. Process for recruitment of 1.40 lakh vacancies has been initiated.
During the Sangosthi, office-bearers of the Federations highlighted the work done by Railway employees in the challenging Covid times and sought active engagement in the process of transformational changes sweeping the Railways.
Office-bearers of the Railway Unions said Railway employees were standing with the Ministry in its mission for development of Railways. Improvement of efficiency and financial health was not only in the interest of the employees but of the nation. They said Railway employees were capable of taking any responsibility for the same.
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